Pole to Pole

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Pole to Pole is both a book and an eight-part documentary, released in 1992, narrated by Michael Palin. This was the second of Palin's journeys, recording a yearlong trip from the North Pole to the South Pole disdaining aircraft travel when he can. Palin's journey was also filmed and broadcast on television on the BBC. Michael travels through what was then the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and through the heart of Africa. A last-minute diversion to Chile includes South America in the series.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 The journey
2 Miscellaneous
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] The journey

[edit] Cold Start

Palin begins at the North Pole in an attempt to follow the 30 degree east line of longitude to the South Pole. (The North Pole scene had to be filmed earlier than the rest of the journey due to weather issues.) From there, he heads to Greenland, then the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, which contain the towns of Ny Ålesund and Longyearbyen. From there, he ventures across the Barents Sea to the port city of Tromsø, where he visits a statue of Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole. As well, he meets avid Norwegian football fans. In the town of Karasjok, he meets up with the Same people and pans for gold in the Karasjoka River. From there, Palin hits his first international frontier, from Norway to Finland. In Finland, he visits with Santa Claus and relaxes in a sauna near Helsinki. Then Palin catches a ferry to Tallinn, his first stop in the Soviet Union. He visits with Estonians who sing a song, dreaming of the day when Estonia would again be a free nation. Then Palin catches a train headed for Leningrad.

[edit] Russian Steps

In Leningrad, Palin meets up with a Lenin impersonator, who gives him an overview of the city. He witnesses a Russian Orthodox baptism ceremony, although he himself is nearly baptized. He visits the cemetery where the likes of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Dostoyevsky are buried, then has the honor of firing the noonday guns at the Peter and Paul Fortress. After buying some pears at a local market, he endures an ordeal trying to buy a bottle of vodka. In Novgorod, he meets up with a director who casts him in a movie. Then he is part of a dinner party where there are twenty-three toasts of homemade vodka. After partaking in a ceremony on behalf of the sister city of Watford (portrayed as a dream), he visits the town of Chernobyl, Ukraine, scene of the infamous 1986 nuclear disaster. From there, it is on to Kiev and Odessa, where Palin receives a unique treatment where he is wrapped in maladorous, sulfourous, black mud. After descending the famous Potemkin steps, he boards a ferry and sails across the Black Sea. While on the ferry, Palin learns of the coup where Gorbachev is overthrown, which eventually leads to the collapse of the country he just spent three weeks in.

[edit] Mediterranean Maze

Arriving by ferry to Istanbul, Turkey, Palin stays at the Pera Palas, where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express. He checks out a local bazaar, as well as a procession at Topkapı Palace. He then takes a train through western Turkey and then catches ferries to Rhodes, then to Cyprus. Palin then visits the British military base at Akrotiri and attends a giant Cypriot wedding. From Limassol, Palin heads for Africa, his home for the next few months. His first stop is Port Said, Egypt, where the filming crew temporarily loses a tripod. Then he crosses paths with Around the World in 80 Days when he catches a train from Cairo to Luxor. Catching a boat down the Nile River, he checks out ancient Egyptian ruins with tourists from Sheffield. From Aswan, he catches a ferry bound for Wadi Halfa and braces himself for what appears to be a rough road ahead.

[edit] Shifting Sands

Arriving in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, Palin boards a train bound for Khartoum. When in the capital, he receives some bad news: he would be unable to journey further south into Sudan due to the ongoing conflict in the south. Seeking an alternative, he finds Eritreans willing to drive him to the border with Ethiopia. While waiting to leave Khartoum, he checks out some camels in nearby Omdurman and a Muslim Sufi ceremony where people dance themselves closer to Allah. When it comes time to leave Khartoum, the journey to the town of Gedaref near the Ethiopian border proves to be anything but easy. Time after time vehicles would get stuck in the dirt, forcing Palin and the other passengers to push. As well, the road was rather bumpy. If that wasn't enough, Ethiopia itself had just dealt with a long war and the overthrowing of Mengistu. Also, there were still rebels from the war hiding near the border. Finally, after spending 24 hours travelling the distance from London to Oxford, he arrives at the Ethiopian border.

[edit] Crossing the Line

In the old Ethiopian capital of Gonder, Palin visits the former home of Haile Selassie, as well as his pet lion. From there, he visits Lake Tana where he learns one of his guides in Kenya has taken ill. Then it is on to the current capital of Addis Ababa, where Palin sees Communist symbols being destroyed. He also witnesses a peaceful demonstration allowed by the new government. Then, after a couple of rides, he arrives at the border with Kenya. He then journeys to Larata and the school where part of the movie The Missionary was filmed. As a gift, he gives the school the inflatable globe he used in his journey around the world. At the Equator, a guide teaches him and a tour group about the Coriolis effect. In Nairobi, he prepares himself for a safari. On safari, he takes time out to chat with some hippopotami.

[edit] Plains and Boats and Trains

In Kenya, Palin takes a hot-air balloon ride, reminiscing on his venture in Aspen. On the ground, he observes a lioness and her cubs up-close with his guide. Afterwards, it is on to Tanzania, where he fulfills a lifelong dream by visiting the Ngorongoro Crater. In Dodoma, he catches a train bound for the town of Kigoma, which gets him back on track with the 30 degrees east meridian. In the nearby town of Ujiji, he visits the site where David Livingstone and Henry Stanley had their famous meeting. Palin then catches what is believed to be the world's oldest ferry down Lake Tanganyika to Mpulungu in Zambia.

[edit] Evil Shadow

In Zambia, Palin meets a witch doctor, who tells him that he has an "evil shadow" and bad things lie ahead for him. Not really taking him seriously, Palin journeys down through Zambia, where long-time leader Kenneth Kaunda has just been defeated. He then visits the Shiwa Ngandu estate, run by Lorna Harvey (daughter of original owner Sir Stewart Gore-Browne) and her husband John. Sadly, the Harveys were murdered six months after Palin's visit.

Palin then moves on to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, where he goes whitewater rafting. Unfortunately, while rafting, he cracked two ribs. As well, one of the crew came down with malaria, which is rampant in Sub-Saharan Africa. Realizing he probably should have taken the witch doctor more seriously, Palin takes the medicine given to him by the doctor. Entering Zimbabwe, he visits the tomb of Cecil Rhodes, whom the country was originally named after. Moving on to Bulawayo, he meets up with the BBC--the Bulawayo Bowlers Club, and visits a local nightclub. Then he heads towards his last African frontier: between Zimbabwe and South Africa, who just abolished apartheid four months earlier. While there, he attends a local football match. In Johannesburg, he receives some bad news: the Agulhas, a scientific research ship they were scheduled to take to Antarctica has no spots for them. While the BBC scrambles for alternatives, Palin visits the world's deepest diamond mine. In Soweto, he meets up with former neighbours of his from London. Then he catches a train to Cape Town. On top of Table Mountain, he observes the end of Africa and reminisces on how the continent turned him from an optimist to a realist. Unfortunately for him, the BBC's efforts to get him on the Agulhas have failed. It looks as if Palin will be unable to reach the South Pole.

[edit] Bitter End

Despite being unable to reach Antarctica via the Agulhas, all is not lost for Palin. A research company agrees to take Palin to the South Pole. Their base is in Chile, meaning Palin must turn his back on the 30 degrees east meridian. Travelling by plane from Cape Town to Santiago via Rio de Janeiro, he checks out an unusual rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" from the Presidential Palace where the infamous 1973 coup took place. After chatting with his guide Patricio while listening to a panflute player, he is off to Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in South America. From there, he waits anxiously for the heads-up to travel to Antarctica. Finally, after a couple of days, Palin and others are off by plane to a base camp at Patriot Hills. While there, he again has to wait for the OK to go to the South Pole. Finally, after a day, he makes a final flight to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and then, at 2:00 am New Zealand time on 4 December 1991, Palin touches foot on the South Pole. He joined a select group of people who have set foot on both the North and South Poles. He went through many ups and downs on this journey, but as Palin put it, "I'm glad we did it this way."

[edit] Miscellaneous

Palin travelled through the following places: the North Pole, Greenland, Norway, Finland, the Soviet Union (now Estonia, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine), Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Chile, Antarctica, and the South Pole.

Palin made this journey during a period of the greatest political changes to occur since World War II in the places he travelled. He ventured into the Soviet Union months before it officially collapsed, Ethiopia after the fall of the Derg, Zambia after the ouster of long-time president Kenneth Kaunda, and South Africa months after the abolition of apartheid.

Palin mentions that before he arrived in Leningrad, the people had voted to change its name back to Saint Petersburg.

Palin mentioned in Kiev that if the winds had flown south on April 26, 1986 (the day of the Chernobyl accident), the Ukrainian capital would be all but deserted.